Hand brake



1960 M. s. ANDRZEJEWSKI 2,951,071

HAND BRAKE Filed D90. 10, 1956 IN V EN TOR. We M gzMfi/ United States Patent HAND BRAKE Matthew S. Andrzejewski, Chicago, Ill., assignor to American Steel Foundries, Chicago, Ill., a corporation of New Jersey Filed Dec. 10, 1956, Ser. No. 627,295

4 Claims. Cl. 188-46) This invention relates to brake riggings and more particularly to a hand brake arrangement for a railway car truck.

The invention comprehends a particular linkage system for manually actuating a rotor brake mechanism or pair of mechanisms.

Although numerous linkage arrangements have been applied to railway car trucks in order to effect the manual actuation of rotor brake mechanisms, most of these have been complex systems involving a great many parts and have been extremely expensive from the standpoint of both original cost and maintenance. Also the intricate linkage arrangements occupy more space than is generally available in the trucks of the modern high speed light weight railway cars.

It is therefore an object of this invention to provide an improved linkage arrangement for the manual actuation of a railway car truck rotor brake.

Another object of the invention is to provide a hand brake linkage arrangement that is simple in design and application, yet efiicient and sturdy in operation.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a hand brake arrangement including a pair of co-acting levers operable to actuate separate pairs of rotor brake mechanisms to atford uniform braking for separate wheel and axle assemblies.

Still another object of this invention is to provide a hand brake linkage including a pair of operating levers which are pivotally interconnected for counter-rotational movement relative to each other.

A more specific object of the invention is to provide an arrangement including a pair of operating levers for separate brake mechanisms wherein one lever is a double lever comprising spaced elements disposed on opposite sides of and pivotally connected to the other lever to atford greater stability for the linkage.

These and other objects of my invention will be apparent from an examination of the following description and drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a fragmentary top plan view of a portion of a railway car truck to which a preferred embodiment of my novel hand brake arrangement has been applied;

Figure 2 is a fragmentary side elevational view of the structure illustrated in Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on line 33 of Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on line 44 of Figure 2, and

Figure 5 is an enlarged portion of my novel structure as seen in Figure 2.

It will be understood that certain elements have been intentionally omitted from certain views where they are illustrated more clearly in other views.

Referring now to the drawings, for a better understanding of the invention, it will be seen that the novel hand brake linkage arrangement is shown as applied to a railway car truck comprising a truck frame indicated generally at supported on a plurality of spaced wheel and "ice axle assemblies 12, each of which comprises an axle 14 having secured thereto a pair of wheels 16 and a pair of rotors 18 (only one wheel and rotor for each assembly being shown in the drawings).

The frame 10 preferably comprises a pair of spaced side members or wheel pieces 20 (only one of which is shown) interconnected by a plurality of transversely extending transoms 22.

Supported from the frame 10 and disposed adjacent each of the rotors 18 are brake mechanisms indicated generally at 24, preferably mounted on a transversely extending beam 26 which may be supported from the transom 22 or side member 20 in any desired manner (not shown).

As best seen in Figure 3, the brake mechanisms 24 each comprise a housing or brake frame 28 having a pair of generally horizontally disposed outboard and inboard brake levers 30 and 32 fulcrumed intermediate their ends thereto by pins 34 and 36, respectively. Disposed on opposite sides of and engageable with each rotor 18 are a pair of brake shoe assemblies 37 which are pivotally connected by pins 38 and 39 to the outboard and inboard inner brake levers 30 and 32, respectively.

Automatic actuation of the brake levers is normally achieved by means of a preferably duplex power cylinder 40 mounted in the housing 28 and disposed to engage corresponding inner ends of the respective brake levers.

Manual operation of each pair of brake levers may be achieved by a linkage comprising a generally horizontally disposed hand brake actuating lever 42 connected intermediate its ends by pin 44 to an inboardly extending ear or lug 46 of the inboard brake lever 32 and also connected to the inboard brake lever 32 at a point outboardly of the first pivotal connection by means of the common pivotal pin 36. The outboard extremity of the hand brake actuating lever 42 is provided with a projection or nose 48 which is abuttably engageable with an inboardly extending ear or lug 50 on the outboard brake lever 30.

The inboard extremities of the actuating levers 42, engageable with the respective brake mechanisms 24 associated with each assembly, are pivotally connected by pins 52 to corresponding ends of a pair of links 54, the opposite ends of the links being pivotally connected by pins 56 to the opposite ends of an equalizer bar 58. Disposed between and extending generally parallel to the links 54 is a push rod 6! pivotally connected by pin 62 to the equalizer bar 58 intermediate the ends of said bar. The push rod may be bifurcated at its opposite end to provide a pair of arms 63 which are pivotally connected by pin 64 to the lower extremity of a dead truck lever 66, the end of which is disposed between the arms 63.

The upper extremity of the dead truck lever 66 may be pivotally connected by pin 68 to a support bracket 70 preferably rigidly secured to the transom 22 as by welds 72.

Disposed adjacent and on opposite sides of the dead lever 66 and pivotally secured thereto by pin 74 are a pair of elements 75 of a vertical live double truck lever 76 which has its upper extremity pivotally connected by pins 78 to a clevis 80. As best seen in Figure l, the opposite end of the clevis 80 is connected to a second clevis or link 84 which in turn is pivotally connected by pin 86 to one end of a pull rod 88, the other end of the pull rod being pivotally connected by pin 90 to a generally horizontally disposed dead operating lever 92 intermediate the ends of the operating lever. The inboard extremity of the operating lever 92 may be fulcrumed by pin 94 to the car body 11, While the outer end of the operating lever is slidably disposed in a guide bracket 96 and connected to any desired conventional hand operated mechanism (not shown) conventionally disposed at the end of the railway truck. Additional support may be afforded for the pull rod 88 by the addition of a support bracket 98 secured to the body in any desired manner.

The lower extremity of the live truck lever 76 may be pivotally connected by pin 100- to one end of a rod 102, the'opposite end of which is pivotally connected by pin 104 to an equalizer (not shown) identical in construction and function with the equalizer 58 previously described and similarly connected to a linkage arrangement such as that shown in Figure 3 having a pair of brake shoe assemblies (not shown) disposed to engage and decelerate the rotor of the adjacent wheel and axle assembly.

Describing the operation of the invention and referring to- Figure 1 of the drawings, it will be seen that as the operating lever 92 is moved counterclockwise on pivot 94, the pull rod 88 is urged to the right and causes the live truck lever 76 to rotate clockwise as seen in Figure 2, about pin 100 carrying with it the dead truck lever 66 which will rotate counterclockwise about pivot 68 and move the push rod 60 to the right as seen in Figure 2. As the push rod moves to the right, it carries with it the equalizer bar 58 which in turn causes links 54 to move the related actuating levers 42. Referring again to Figure 3, it will be seen that movement of each actuating lever 42 causes it to rotate clockwise about pivot 36 carrying with it inboard brake lever 32 and at this time engaging outboard brake lever 30 to rotate it about its pivot 34 whereby both brake shoe assemblies are carried into engagement with the related rotor. Similar operation takes place by the movement of the other actuating lever 42.

Practically simultaneously with this movement, the pivot point of the live truck lever 76 shifts to pin 74 and the lever continues to rotate clockwise, as seen in Figure 2, moving the push rod and connected equalizer 106 to the left to actuate similar braking mechanisms engageable with the rotors of the adjacent wheel and axle as semblies.

Although in the embodiment of my invention illustrated in the drawings lever 76 is shown as a live lever having its lower extremity connected to another brake mechanism associated with an adjacent Wheel and axle assembly, if desired, lever 76 can be a dead lever by fulcruming at itslower extremity to some avialable portion of the truck frame structure. In this alternate arrangement, the operation of the brake mechanism would be essentially the same as for the arrangement previously described, except that the lever 76 would always pivot at its lower end about a fixed pivot and would not actuate a brake mechanism on an adjacent wheel and axle assembly.

I claim:

1. In a hand brake arrangement for a railway car truck including a plurality of spaced wheel and axle assemblies, each having a pair of spaced rotatable members, each presenting a pair of friction surfaces and a truck frame supported on said assemblies comprising a pair of side members interconnected by a plurality of transverse members, the combination of: friction means disposed on. opposite sides of and engageable with the surfaces of the respective rotatable members, brake supports carried by said truck frame and disposed adjacent. the respective rotatable members, pairs of generally horizontal brake levers fulcrumed intermediate their ends to the respective supports and pivotally connected at their ends to the related friction means, a pair of generally horizontal actuating levers fulcrumed to the respective supports adjacent the respective assemblies and connected to the related pairs of brake levers, equalizer bars operatively interconnect ng corresponding inboard ends of the respective pairs of actuating levers, a live double vertical truck lever comprising a pair 'of live horizontally spaced vertical members, a dead single vertical truck lever disposed between said vertical members and pivotally connected thereto intermediate the ends of said live and dead levers, a pair of push rods connecting the lower ends of the respective live and dead levers to respective equalizer bars, the upper end of said dead truck lever being fulcrumed to the truck frame, a manually actuated operating lever fulcrumed to the car, and a pull rod connecting the operating lever to the upper end of the live truck lever.

2. In a hand brake arrangement for a railway car truck comprising a truck frame supported on a plurality of spaced wheel and axle assemblies each presenting spaced pairs of rotatable friction surfaces, the combination of: brake means supported by the frame and engageable with the respective pairs of friction surfaces, a pair of generally horizontal actuating levers engageable with the respective brake means associated with each assembly, equalizer bars operatively interconnecting the respective pairs of actuating levers, compression rods connected to the respective equalizer bars, live and dead vertical levers pivotally interconnected intermediate their ends and pivotally connected at their lower ends to the respective compression rods, said live and dead levers having pivotal motion only relative to each other, the dead lever being fulcrumed at its upper end to the frame, a generally horizontal operating lever fulcrumed to the car, and a pull rod interconnecting the upper end of the live lever and the operating lever.

3. In a hand brake arrangement for a railway vehicle having a frame carried by spaced wheel and axle assemblies, said assemblies having spaced friction surfaces thereon, and actuating means on said vehicle, the combination of: pairs of brake means fulcrumed to the frame and abuttable with the respective surfaces, brake actuating levers pivotally connected to-the frame and abuttable with the respective brake means for actuation thereof, live and dead operating levers having afloating pivotal connection intermediate their ends, respectively, corresponding ends of said levers being pivotally connected to the respective brake actuating levers, the other corresponding ends of the liveand deadlevers, respectively, having pivotal connections to the actuating means and the frame, said live and dead operating levers being substantially parallel throughout actuation of said brake arrangement.

4. A hand brake arrangement for a vehicle having a frame, actuating means, and a plurality of spacedrotatable friction surfaces, brake means abuttable with said surfaces, brake levers pivotally connected to said brake means and fulcrumed to said frame, actuating levers fulcrumed to said frame and abuttable with the brake levers for actuation thereof, live and dead operating levers interconnected to each other by a floating pivotal connection, said live and dead operating levers having pivotal connections with said actuating levers, and, respectively, with the actuating means and the frame, said live and dead operating levers being parallel in some operative position of the brake arrangement, and said live and dead operating levers being angularly disposed relative to each other and in opposite senses of the parallel, respectively; in brake release position and in brake applied position, of said brake arrangement.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 726,864 Clark May 5', 1903, 873,459 Rushton Dec. 10, 1907 960,425 Smith June 7, 1910 2,071,964 Baselt Feb. 23, 1937- 2,215,346 Bush Sept. 17, 1940 2,216,048 Rawlinson Sept. 24, 1940 2,228,818 Eksergian Jan. 14, 1941 2,372,319 Francois Mar. 27, 1945 2,812,040 Tack et a1 Nov. 5, 1957 ,4 l l l 

